Goa BJP accuses NCP chief of faking affidavits

Panaji, Oct 1 (IANS) Goa’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday alleged that Wilfred de Souza, president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), a member of the ruling coalition, had misled the Election Commission with fake affidavits. Upping the ante in the battle of words between the two parties, Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar said de Souza had not only faked his age but had also failed to mention three fixed assets owned by him in the sworn documents submitted to the Election Commission.

Parrikar was quoting from documents obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) act.

“He has not mentioned three properties owned by him in the disclosure he has made before the Election Commission,” Parrikar told a press conference. He added that there were at least three other ‘missing’ properties the BJP was in the process of tracking down.

He accused de Souza, also the deputy chairman of the state planning board, of fraudulently transferring property owned by his relatives to his name — by quoting documents from the revenue department.

Parrikar further claimed that the applicant who had filed the RTI query about former chief ministers’ properties had been subsequently raided by electricity department officials. “This is nothing but harassment,” he charged.

The state units of the NCP and the BJP have been slugging it out for a couple of weeks. The tussle started after de Souza accused BJP legislator from Saligao, Dilip Parulekar, of faking educational qualifications in his affidavit filed before the Election Commission.

A returning officer appointed by the state Election Commission has issued a show cause notice to Parulekar — de Souza had complained that the legislator could not have passed his third year B.Com examinations in 1988 because the Goa University’s first batch graduated in 1989.